Who is this guide for: Administrators (see access roles note)
Platform: Sense HR
Available on: All plans
Before you begin
Make sure you’ve:
☑️ Logged in to the Sense HR web app
☑️ Been assigned administrator permissions
☑️ Confirmed that the access role you want to assign already exists
🖊️ Access roles note:
Access roles are usually assigned by Administrators. With Access Role Management (Professional, Elite, and Enterprise plans), they can also be assigned by manager-type roles if those roles have both the required profile access and permission to manage Access roles.
Overview
Use this process to assign or change the access role for a user in Sense HR.
Each user can have only one active access role at a time. Changing their access role updates what they can see and do across the system.
Examples of when you might change someone’s access role include:
assigning a new starter to the correct role
giving someone broader access after a promotion
reducing access when responsibilities change
moving someone to a custom or Limited admin role.
Navigation path
HR Dashboard > People > [Select profile] > More actions (…) > Assign access role
Assign an access role to a user
Open People from the main navigation.
Select the person’s profile.
Click the More actions menu (…) in the upper right.
Select Assign access role.
Choose the access role you want to assign.
Select Next to confirm the change.
✅ The selected access role is now applied to that user.
What to check before assigning a role
Before assigning a role, make sure:
the role matches the person’s responsibilities
the role gives access only to the areas they need
any manager-type role has the correct people access configured
any Limited admin role has the correct people scope configured
you understand whether the role is a default role (Administrators, Managers, Manager with indirect reports, or Standard users), Limited admin role, or copied/custom role
Automatic role changes for line managers
In some cases, Sense HR changes access roles automatically based on reporting lines.
If someone is assigned as a Line Manager in an employee’s profile, they automatically move from Standard users to Managers.
If they are later removed as the Line Manager for their last or only direct report, they automatically move back from Managers to Standard users.
🖊️ Note:
You can still manually assign a different access role where needed. Automatic role changes only apply between Standard users and Managers.
Tips for assigning roles safely
Use the most limited role that still allows the person to do their job.
Be especially careful when assigning roles with access to Settings, Reports, or Access roles.
Review custom roles before assigning them, especially if they include access to other people’s data.
If a user says they cannot see something after a role change, check both their access role permissions and, if applicable, their profile template setup.
Quick reference: default access roles
This quick reference applies only to:
Team plans
Professional, Elite, and Enterprise plans before any access role permissions have been customised in Access Role Management (ARM)
If your organisation uses ARM and has changed role permissions, the summaries below may no longer reflect your live setup.
For detailed permission-by-permission guidance, see Default User Permissions.
Standard users
Typically includes:
access to their own profile for self service
no access to other employee profiles
visibility of team events in the Company Calendar
access to Company Documents
access to personal documents where access has been granted by an administrator
access to the mobile app.
Managers
Typically includes:
access to their own profile for self service
access to team member profiles for areas such as Planner, Contact details, and Documents, where permitted
visibility of team events in the Company Calendar
ability to authorise leave requests
ability to log or acknowledge sickness and complete return to work records
access to Company Documents
access to the mobile app.
Manager with Indirect reports
Typically includes:
everything available to Managers
access extended to indirect reports in the reporting hierarchy.
Administrators
Typically includes:
access to all employee profiles and all data
full access to Company and Personal Documents
full visibility of company events in the Company Calendar
access to all settings and permissions
access to all reports and reportable data
full access to employee planner events, including add, edit, authorise, and delete
access to all system To Dos, including approvals, return to works, absences, and manual tasks
ability to onboard new starters
ability to process leavers
ability to delete employee records
access to the mobile app
access to all Sense workplace products within the subscription plan.
🖊️ Note:
These are baseline summaries, not fixed permission definitions for every system. If ARM has been used to customise a role, always check the role configuration directly.
FAQs
Click to see answers to frequently asked questions
Click to see answers to frequently asked questions
Q: Why can’t I see the Assign access role option in Sense HR?
A: The reason you can’t see the Assign access role option in Sense HR is that your role does not currently have permission to manage access roles for users.
Q: Why can’t the user see what they need after I changed their access role?
A: The reason the user still can’t see what they need after you changed their access role is usually that the role’s permissions, or the person’s profile template limits them to certain screens.
Q: Why can a manager-type or Limited admin role see the wrong people?
A: The reason a manager-type or Limited admin role can see the wrong people is that the role configuration, people scope, or group setup inside the role needs updating.
🖊️ Note: Take particular care when adding multiple people groups to the same role. If the same person is included in more than one group, it can create conflicting permissions.